Beware ROAM
by Kay Hau
Summary: Detective Khargana is used to being cool, smart, clever, and tough. But, for some inexplicable reason, she is targeted with a potion that takes away all her physical abilities. Can she get by on just her intelligence? And is her new bro related to this?


**Beware R.O.A.M.**

**By appaloosa500 / Kay Hau  
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"We've got her, boss," whispered a small shadow to a larger one.

"You're joking. There is no way you managed to tag her without her beating you up or others seeing you."

"I swear, master, no one saw."

"Where is she? I need proof—you've deceived me before."

"Never again, master. And the Wocky should just be waking up now."

"At 3 am NST?"

"I told you she was crazy."

"Will it work?"

"Your potions have never failed before, my lord."

Indeed 'she' was waking up, and that 'she' was a detective. Khargana, the Wocky Detective, habitually woke up at 3 am on Wednesday mornings to exercise and catch up on her work.

Only today her mind wasn't up to it. Neither was her body.

"Oh…" she groaned, sitting up in bed. "I've got some headache. Did I walk into one of Black Jack's bouncers last night?" She rubbed her temples and tried to climb out of bed. Oddly, she lost her balance and collapsed flat on her face.

A look of complete confusion swept over her Green Wocky face. She stood upright shakily and flopped backward onto her bed.

"That's weird. What's with you, Khargana?" she growled to herself. "Getting soft, huh."

She gritted her teeth and tried to push herself up. To her astonishment, she couldn't. "I'm the five-time paw-wrestling champ at the Card House club!" she muttered to herself, and managed to shove herself upright and onto the carpet, though her arms shook with the effort.

Then she heard giggling. Not quite daring to move her body, she glared around—her eyes coming to rest on a shadow leaning against the wall.

"Who dares invade my privacy?" she inquired in the direction of the shadow, and clapped her paws twice. Small lights hidden discreetly in the roof lit up and filtered into the room to reveal a smallish Robot Lupe across the room from her.

A smirk spread across his metallic features. "And how are you feeling today?"

Forgetting herself, she charged forward, shouting, "You cheeky little—" and tripped.

He laughed. "Oh how the mighty have fallen!"

She growled and bared her teeth, struggling up to all fours. "No matter what you've done to me, I can still whip you!" She climbed clumsily upright onto her rear paws, panting. "I—can—whip—anyone…"

"Oh?" he smirked again and stepped forward. "I'll make it easy for you." He stood directly in front of her and easily caught Khargana's slow right-jab towards his face.

Her eyes widened in disbelief. "No way."

The Robot Lupe swiped his tail under her rear paws, again causing her to tumble to the ground. He laughed haughtily and said, "Try those retractable claws you're so famous for using."

She wearily pulled herself into a sitting position on the carpeted floor and flexed her paws in a much-practiced motion. Of course, from the way things were going for her this morning, nothing happened.

She would never admit it, but she was worried. She was thankful the light was so faint, or the Lupe might've seen the sweat she knew was running down her neck and back. She turned her clever eyes toward the Lupe for clues, hoping he was stupid enough to part with valuable information. "Claws don't vanish overnight. Neither does balance or strength."

He clipped off a small whistle attached to his right foreleg and blasted it. Khargana didn't hear a thing, though she recognized the whistle as the standard canine Petpet type. Her eyes narrowed even more, "and neither does ultrasonic hearing. What have you done to me and why?"

"You're actually naïve enough to ask? Besides, I don't even know much, except that there was a possibility of you being a danger that we couldn't risk. So, we used you as a test subject. Enjoy life de-powered!"

"Wait! How did you—?"

He laughed cruelly and tossed an empty toy spray gun at her. "Those things can hold more than water you know. My master is an absolute genius! Oh, and P.S. your phone's been disconnected and only my boss knows the antidote to your 'condition'."

Still stubbornly refusing to give up, Khargana lunged forward at the robot. He didn't even have to move, and even Khargana, in her weakened state, could tell that her angle was drastically off. She crashed headlong into the wall and crumbled to the floor.

Very unprofessionally, the Robot Lupe snorted in laughter before giving in to giggling. He reluctantly looked her over, as if wishing he could stay longer to enjoy the fun, and then slipped out of the second-story window.

Weakly, Khargana climbed onto all fours and then onto her low-set bed before she collapsed.

"This…" she panted. "Is so… absolutely pathetic." She closed her tired eyes.I _At least I can be strong and quick in my own mind/I_, she thought. And she would've set to organizing her thoughts into files, outlines, and plans, except her mind gave up on her and she fell asleep.

"Well," whispered the Lupe's Master. "I'm satisfied. The Wocky has been de-powered and our potion works perfectly."

The Lupe smirked. "Oh yes, sire. She is no danger now."

"She still possesses her sharp intellect?"

"I assume so, but I'm sure her weakened state has affected it nicely. She's taken for granted her night-vision, ultra-sonic hearing, retractable claws, perfect balance, and the like." He chuckled, "and after the beating she gave herself, I do believe she'll have enough of a headache to have trouble concentrating."

The Master, a huge Robot Acara, stepped forward. "Our eye-link worked perfectly. I was rather surprised how clear everything came through. You're right. The Wocky is no danger to me, to ROAM."

Khargana woke later to the sound of her doorbell. Before she could even think of who was at her door, the pains from earlier that morning flooded into her brain.

Ignoring the second and third rings, she sat up in bed and tried again to detract her claws. Useless time-waster. It was pointless to hope. It just didn't make any sense. She knew her claws hadn't been dissolved or anything, for she could still feel the hard nails in her front toes (or what some would call 'fingers') when she pressed them. They were no more gone than her ears; they just didn't work as they should.

The doorbell rang a fourth time, and still Khargana ignored it. Instead of bothering to pay attention, she carefully rolled out of bed and over to the spray gun that still lay on the carpet. Slowly, as she didn't trust her balance, she sat on the floor and fingered it.

It was a pretty old model, say, early Year 3. It was shaped rather like a Chia Bubble Gun, except it was much smaller and instead of a round, ribbed opening to create bubbles it had several small dashes. Anyone could easily slip it into a pocket and it probably held only a couple tablespoons overall.

_Of course,_ she thought menacingly,_ it hadn't held a bubble-mixture. Instead, it had contained some sort of potion._

Then, as she was about to set it down again, something odd hit her. _De-powered? What on Neopia did he mean by that? What I've lost is talents, skills, and even natural abilities, not powers. And what was that about me being a danger? I'd like to think so, but I don't know anything about a Robot Lupe and his boss and an evil sinister plan that must involve whatever potion this spray gun held…_

She stood up, seeing as her body didn't feel quite so hurt and awkward. _IMaybe it's temporary_._ /I_ Pointing at a lamp, she announced, "Spark!" Nothing happened, but that wasn't any surprise. Being a faerie-blessed ability, that could be somewhat counted as a power. Maybe that stupid Lupe just had poor language skills.

She curled her paws into tight fists and tried a punch, but the momentum unbalanced her and she stumbled, landing on her fluffy green tail.

Then something else hit her. _Oh, please no…_ She dashed to her closet and swung open the door to reveal a full-length mirror. She looked herself over and sighed in relief. Her body, at least, had not been transformed into some weak, pathetic looking version of herself. She still looked as fit, flexible, and athletic as ever. She just couldn't perform.

She closed the closet door and rubbed her temples, trying to think of something that made sense. The only problem is that nothing made sense. How could she be the same, only not…?

It was as if, as some more poetic Neopians would put it, her body no longer held any power. _Maybe that's what he meant._ She shook her head. _I still say it reveals a poor grip on the Neopian language._ It had affected her ears, her claws, and her balance, probably her eyes too. But how could it warp the use of something if it didn't apparently affect the workings of it… It was all scientifically improbable. _Or, _thought Khargana in a flash, _incredibly scientifically 'advanced'._

"Khargana!" shouted a voice from downstairs, interrupting her train of thought. "Get your tail down here! First you don't answer your door, then you make us wait forever!"

The Wocky Detective sighed, recognizing her best friend Tanny's voice. She flexed her paws and, as expected, still nothing happened. So she opened the door to go down and talk to her friends. Only things didn't go so well.

Not thinking, Khargana set her paw down as she normally did, at the top of the steps, and tripped. Leaving out most of the painful detail, it was a long, uncomfortable, and downright embarrassing way down.

Khargana landed finally at the bottom of the staircase with a groan, fortunately not upside-down, and instantly found herself surrounded by friends. Only, just now, she wished they'd disappear off the face of Neopia rather than stare at her so.

"Khar!" exclaimed the almost sickeningly sweet Blue Zafara, Tanny. "Are you okay?"

"That was clumsy!" offhandedly commented Adri, a pompous Red Uni, flapping her wings to straighten every perfectly trimmed and styled feather.

Rissa, a smallish Blue Shoyru and the klutz of the three sisters, took a more sensible approach—which makes sense seeing as she's so used to falling herself. She helped the blushing Khargana up and tried a small laugh, though it came out a little sour. "Took a li'l tumble, huh girl?"

Feeling slightly dizzy from the tail-over-head tumble, Khargana allowed herself to be helped upright, though she knew her face must be glowing in humiliation.

Tanny looked Khargana up and down in her typical worried and concerned Zafara manner. She looked up and met Khargana's eyes with a look of confusion. "I've never seen you trip before, Khar, and we've known each other since grade Neoschool!"

Adri chuckled haughtily. "Well, I suppose there's a first time for everything!"

Rissa shook her head in rejection of Adri's opinion, negativity written all over her expressive face. "Me-self I understand fallin', but Khar? No way, no how, she got perfect, err, walkin'? No, bal-ance, yeah."

"You're blushing!" giggled Adri teasingly to Khargana.

"What's wrong?" inquired Tanny.

Naturally, in the midst of all these sisters' nonstop talking, Khargana was getting steadily more and more uncomfortable. She yanked herself out of her friends' grasp, stumbling into the stairs in her haste to get away. "Oh, just be quiet and leave! I have a lot on my mind and I want to be alone!" she shouted.

Rissa looked shocked and Adri looked hurt, but Tanny knew something very bad must've happened for Khargana to lash out at them like that.

"I don't think you really want us to leave," said the Zafara. "But we will if you still want us to. First, though, you have to tell us what's wrong."

"Why can't you just GO?" exclaimed the Green Wocky.

"No. What's wrong?" insisted Tanny.

"Oh, for Fyora's sake! Have it your way, but you won't understand or help a smidgen!" She glared at Tanny, her oldest and dearest friend, in a way that would've terrified anyone else, and flexed her paws in a way Tanny was very familiar with. Only no claws appeared.

"You can live without retractable claws," said Tanny in a slightly derogatory tone, knowing the best way to get Khargana to reveal something on her mind is to insult her pride.

"Oh? What about with _nothing_?" She swung a punch at Adri, who was well known for having the worst reflexes. The Uni easily ducked, then stared in shock when she realized what she'd just done.

Getting angrier and less self-controlled by the second, Khargana pointed straight in Rissa's face and shouted, "Spark!" Nothing happened, certainly not a blue spark whizzing its way to zap the Shoyru.

"I can't even do a simple handstand!" exploded the Wocky, trying to stand up on her front paws and failing miserably. "It's pathetic! All I can do is think, and that's getting me nowhere!"

Suddenly all Khargana's energies were flooded into a rage at the stupid Lupe and what he'd done. "I'll get him!" growled Khargana. "If it's the last thing I ever do! Even if it kills me, I'll get him!" Then she turned and, completely ignoring her friends, scrambled clumsily up the staircase to get the spray gun she'd left in her room.

Adri, Rissa, and Tanny stared at each other in simple mutual confusion. Then Tanny smiled uncertainly and said, "Well, that last part was like her at least. You know, dashing off into things. Umm, not the scrambling part though…" She looked at her sisters hopefully. Rissa and Adri, staring at the stairs, nodded silently and in sync.

Khargana slammed through the door of her room and instantly spotted the spray gun. She snatched it up and was about to turn around and dash down the stairs when she thought better of it.

That last 'trip' had been painful as well as embarrassing, as if would've been even without her friends. She took one swift look around her room and opened her closet door.

She pushed aside several identical vests and assorted disguises to reveal an open vent at the back. It was just large enough for a medium-sized Wocky.

When she had closed the door behind her, after recovering from her sudden surprise at being close to blind (having lost her night-vision, obviously), she tucked the spray gun firmly under her arm and slid through the secret entrance to her workshop/laboratory.

As the three girls stood confused around the end of the staircase, a surprisingly tiny Yellow Aisha dressed in shabby jeans and an old, stained T-shirt sauntered casually in from the kitchen. Yawning and not noticing the girls, he shouted, "Khar! I'm home from stocking the shop! Where were you this—" Then he noticed the three pretty female Neopets in front of him.

His eyes widened in astonishment before he recognized them. "Oh!" he laughed. "You're just Khargana's friends! She told me all about you three!"

The three sisters stared at him.

"I'm DeSoni, Khar's new bro!" He smiled cheerfully in greeting.

All three, remembering Khargana's odd behavior, glared at him suspiciously and began circling him in a typical sister-pack fashion.

"You're too short!" said the Red Uni.

"What's wit da gear?" asked the Blue Shoyru, gesturing at his clothes.

"And where's your 'A' for Aisha collar?" demanded the Blue Zafara. She added, "and I happen to know for a fact that Kay said she didn't want more than one Neopet!"

The Yellow Aisha's earstalks began to droop sadly at their immediate suspicion of him. "Honestly, girls, I really am Khargana's new brother. Kay adopted me last week while you gals were visiting Faerieland. I'm just, well, a little unusual for an Aisha."

They stared at him.

"Okay, I'm very unusual. But Kay really did adopt me. Want to see my look-up? And what's wrong anyway? Khargana actually told me three girls, her best friends, would be coming over to meet me this morning, I just forgot. I recognize you from those pictures everywhere."

Tanny was the first to lose her suspicions. "Well, she did mention last night that she had a surprise for us. I'm Stand_Off, DeSoni, but call me Tanny." The Blue Zafara smiled sweetly.

Adri haughtily flicked her Uni tail and bestowed her name upon the unworthy lesser being. "Adriana_Flyer. You may _Inot/I_ call me Adri."

The little Yellow Aisha smirked rebelliously. "Pleased to meet you Tanny, _IAdri/I_."

Adri glared, but Rissa laughed. "Put 'er there, pal!" cheered the Blue Shoyru. The two high-fived. "I'm Rissa, an' don' bother wit my real name."

"CarissaOfire," declared Adri.

DeSoni looked around and flicked all his ears, two short ears and two long earstalks. "So where's Khargana? That ol' Wocky Detective said she'd help me at my shop, but oddly never showed up. At least I finished the shop assistant robot."

The three sisters looked at each other and, as if telepathically, decided to trust him. Not with everything, of course. They simply said she'd dashed up the stairs to her room ranting about something or other, not mentioning Khar's problem.

DeSoni tilted his head and glanced up at the stairs, then back to the sisters. "How long have you been waiting?" he asked.

"About five minutes, maybe more," replied Tanny.

He smiled cheerfully. "That makes it easy then. I'll bet anything she's in her workshop." Without asking the girls to follow, but obviously expecting them to, he turned and walked briskly toward the basement.

Adri whispered to Rissa, "He sure seems to know a lot for only being here, what, a week?"

Rissa smiled, not rising to the punch. "Yeah, he's real cool, eh?" Then the little Shoyru giggled at the astonished look on Adri's face.

DeSoni flung the door to the basement open and shouted down, "Hey! Khar! Did you know your friends are up here waiting for you?"

A voice came up from the stairs, obviously Khargana's, shouting, "Yeah! And I'm busy! So shoo!"

DeSoni blinked twice in confusion, turned and looked at the three girls, the looked back down the stairs. "No! And I'm coming down to help you out with whatever!" he shouted, in a voice that absolutely refused to even listen to a negative.

Khargana whipped around from the table she'd been working at and glared up at the tiny Yellow Aisha. Her face was still tight with anger and her eyes flashed dangerously.

Regardless, DeSoni bravely sauntered down the few steps and over to the table, where he nonchalantly picked up the spray gun. He turned it this way and that, carefully examining every inch of the item. When he stroked the opening with the slits, he turned to Khargana and raised his eyebrows.

With an air of having given in to the inevitable, Khargana waited for his verdict.

"This belonged to a lab-ray robot." He watched Khargana's reaction, which was no more then a quick flickering of her eyes. "It's very impressive, but I have no doubt it was used improperly." He set the spray gun down and leaned against the table, closely examining his adopted sister's face.

"Give, Khar. I'm going to help and I need details."

The Wocky Detective gave up the hope of keeping the whole mess a secret and told DeSoni the whole thing, up to and including her private thoughts regarding the Robot Lupe's actions and choice of words. The three sisters stared in shock at how much she revealed and her obvious incredible trust in her new brother.

While Khargana spoke, DeSoni grew increasingly more and more thoughtful. When the Wocky came to the end of her narrative, DeSoni questioningly gestured towards her workshop and laboratory equipment. Khargana nodded and the Aisha set to work on something.

Tanny, meanwhile, grabbed the Green Wocky's shoulder and pulled her friend back out of DeSoni's immediate earshot. (Though he was probably much too absorbed fiddling with the chemicals and spray gun to pay any attention.) "What's with you?" whispered Tanny. "You barely know him! He could be the one who set you up, for all you know!" An out-of-character jealousy crept into the Zafara's voice. She was Khargana's best friend, and the Wocky had never opened up to her about any case that easily!

Khargana, now much calmer, carefully took the Blue Zafara's paw off her shoulder. "Don't worry, Tanny. It's not my place to say how or what I know, but DeSoni's very trustworthy. He also has a genius for mechanics and sciences that I can't even remotely compare to. If anyone can help me, it's him."

Then something DeSoni was working with boiled over and another thing blew up outward, shattering the top of the beaker but thankfully not losing the liquid within or damaging nothing else.

"Yes, he's such a genius," mumbled Adri, who'd heard Khar's response.

The tiny Yellow Aisha, not taking any account of the broken glass, picked up both the boiled-over flask (with tongs) and the broken beaker (bare-pawed) and poured them together into a large, cylindrical metal bowl. Khargana walked back up to DeSoni's side and, besides pointing out she had a limited supply of beakers, inquired what in the world he was doing.

"I believe I can duplicate the formula used on you, to see if my hypothesis is correct. I think I know who's behind this, though hopefully they don't know of any connection between you and me. If it's them, then this formula should work."

"Is it the Alien Aishas, you think?"

"No, but it's a possibility this had something to do with the—" Then DeSoni looked over at the three sisters, suddenly wary.

Khargana shook her head with a slight grin. "Don't worry about them, DeSoni. Whatever you say will not leave this room. If anyone asks how I learned whatever, I won't tell, and neither will my pals."

Tanny, Adri, and Rissa were more confused then ever, but they kept silent and nodded.

DeSoni nodded, choosing to trust his sister's friends and judgment. He turned back to Khargana and softly said, "ROAM."

Khargana frowned, not getting it.

He sighed and rubbed his shorter ears. "I could so be killed for telling you this, except I've already betrayed the black-market so much they'd kill me no matter what I do now." He met Khargana's eyes and, dead seriously, told her what ROAM meant.

"ROAM. Letters R-O-A-M. It's an acronym, stands for Robots-On-A-Mission. It used to be a Neopia-wide criminal organization made up entirely of Lab-Ray Robots. The Defenders managed to destroy it, or so they thought, but they never caught HIM. The head-honcho, a Robot Acara code-named Fiver6double0nine. He escaped with his most loyal assistant, a Robot Lupe coded Maxwell59."

"What's their mission?" asked Adri, sticking her nose in despite her pretended indifference.

DeSoni shrugged. "What else? To take over Neopia."

"An' how da you know?" asked Rissa curiously.

DeSoni winced and turned away, looking sad and weighed down all of a sudden. He held that position for nearly a minute. Then he shook his head. "No. I'd like to tell you three, but the knowledge itself would endanger you worse than any of Khar's missions. Even this one."

The Blue Shoyru's eyes took on a haunted look. She was remembering her gang-related past and how she had, just by being adopted, put her whole family and Khargana in jeopardy. "I won't push," she softly whispered, guilty over her thoughtlessness.

Adri and Tanny looked from DeSoni to Rissa and decided to leave the little Aisha be. He was on their side, and that was all that mattered.

Khargana turned back to DeSoni. "Go on."

He sighed. "I helped invent the original de-powering potion. But, I—" He glanced at the three sisters and quickly changed what he was going to say. "I, err, lost contact before it was completed and without telling them the final secret to it." He pointed at the metal bowl, which was now observed to be sending little shocks of electricity through the potion. "I can only now assume they've solved the puzzle."

The tiny Yellow Aisha picked up the bowl, ignoring or perhaps not being bothered by the voltage, and poured the solution into a tall beaker. "I've put a canceller in it for two minutes. It's complete."

With that, DeSoni retrieved the spray gun from where he'd put it down and, with the use of what appeared to be a large eyedropper, filled the small tank.

He turned to Tanny, the Zafara. "I know this is asking a lot, Tanny, but Khargana told me about your exceptional hearing. It's the quickest way to make sure it's the same formula; there weren't any traces in the gun."

Tanny bit her lip nervously. She really didn't want to chance anything, but… "You're positive? Only two minutes?"

"Yes."

She closed her eyes and stood up straight. "Okay, I'm ready."

DeSoni carefully aimed straight at the Zafara's face and fired with the sureness of experience. A light mist streamed straight at Tanny, and she immediately crumbled to the ground.

Everyone dashed to help her up, which she woozily accomplished.

"I—I…" she said, leaning on Adri, "I feel the same, only… different. And," she rubbed her forehead, "I've got a headache."

"No time for talk!" said Khargana, walking to a cabinet. She pulled out a small whistle identical to the one the Robot Lupe, now known as Maxwell59, had used on her. She blew on it as hard as she could.

"YAH!" shouted DeSoni, grabbing his earstalks. "Warn a guy, won't ya? That's worse than the fire alarm at that Neoschool I visited!"

Tanny hadn't flinched. She stared at the whistle. "I… I didn't hear anything."

Rissa and Adri shrugged. They never heard Petpet whistles.

Khargana sadly put the whistle away. "I still can't hear it either." She shrugged her shoulders. "I guess this means no more whistle signals on missions."

"Don't sweat it, sis," said DeSoni. "Most potions have antidotes, and this is no different. We just need to find this one. Any questions?"

"What exactly is it supposed to affect?" asked Khargana. "Maxwell59 mentioned de-powering, but it seems to me to be natural abilities. And faerie-blessed abilities… or pretty much any natural physical advantage."

"Hit it right on the button, sis. It's designed to render an enemy completely physically worthless. It also affects any advantage related to magic, such as any faerie-blessed ability. I was always of the opinion that it's somewhat worthless, as it has no affect on mental abilities or on anything technological. That's the main thing, of course, not affecting machinery. It means that no members of ROAM will be disabled, _Ibut/I_ it also means the opponent's weapons and technologies remain intact."

"So it's pretty much designed for an all-out war between robots and normal Neopets and faeries right here on Neopia. Bang. But how does it actually work? I don't understand how something can have such a drastic affect without physically altering anything."

DeSoni smirked proudly. "Ah, yes. The main twister there. Scientifically improbable, so it would never be suspected until it's too late. See if this makes sense: though it doesn't affect your mental abilities," he tapped his head, "it does affect your brain."

"So it doesn't actually affect your body. Your brain just, what, forgets how to work those functions?"

"Something like that. In reality it has a lot to do with specific chemicals impeding neurological synapses," he glanced around and, quite obviously, no one was exactly following him. "But your explanation is much simpler," he concluded, sighing.

"Lastly," finished Khargana. "Any chance of it wearing off without the antidote?"

DeSoni shook his head sadly. "These chemicals don't wear down. That is, well, they won't leave your brain until you get something to counteract them."

"And why Khargana?" piped up Rissa.

DeSoni frowned. "I really have no idea. I could understand if they traced me and then got to her, but I just met with…" he glanced around the girls again. "Let's just say I know for a fact no one from ROAM's traced me."

Adri huffed, completely unconvinced.

"Oh!" said the tiny Aisha suddenly. He turned to Tanny and said something in a practically inaudible whisper.

"That's great!" cheered Tanny.

Seeing the confusion on the others' faces, the Blue Zafara laughed. "He said my hearing should be back by now. It is!"

The Wocky turned back to the Aisha. "Do you have any idea what the antidote is?"

He shook his head so hard his earstalks flapped. "Not a clue. That was a different team. I'm sure I could figure out the cure, given time, but it would likely take quite a while. Weeks, at the least. Months, more likely."

Khargana massaged the back of her neck, which was tight with stress and anxiety. "We can't wait that long. And 'Maxwell' was kind enough to inform me my phone's been disconnected, which means our hotline to Queen Fyora is gone." She shook her head in aggravation. "Which means, abilities or no abilities, we're going after them!"

Adri's ears perked up, and the Uni whinnied in laughter. "Did I just hear the Wocky Detective Khargana use the word 'we'? That's a first!"

"Yeah! I'm in!" shouted the hyper Shoyru Rissa, jumping up and down.

"Well, okay," said Tanny. "But I have a strong suspicion you're not bringing us along for company."

Khargana sighed. "I'll be brutally honest. If I was back to normal, I'd go alone. But the fact is I'm not and I can't do this without help."

"Seems to me we'd be better off without you," contributed Adri. "You're the one whose 'powers' or whatever don't work."

Two cold brown eyes suddenly glared full into Adri's. "I'm the one with the brain and experience, remember? That's why I'm in charge and you're not."

That reminded Adri that Khargana still had the power to totally destroy her ego.

The Wocky immediately started assigning positions so no one else would have reason to question her leadership. "Any clue where to start, DeSoni?"

"Better than that, I know their headquarters."

"Perfect. Standard plan, guys! Adri, you're distraction. Rissa's in charge of breaking open locks and snatching anything I say to. We'll all have whistles, and Tanny will be with me to alert me if she hears any. Differing frequencies, of course. DeSoni, you stay here on red alert. We'll alert you if we find anything."

The short Aisha sighed. "Should've seen that coming. But you're right; my going with you would be incredibly risky. Take locaters, though. And I assume I'll be connected via communicator?"

"Yes, but we'll have to be careful in case someone is monitoring radio frequencies. Both receivers and transmitters are on an automatic rotating frequency, but precaution is always advisable." As she spoke, Khargana walked around the room before finding the wrist communicator 480-rotatable, which she strapped to her left wrist.

"This the receiver?" asked DeSoni, standing in front of a large screen.

"Yeah, green switch for on—you can figure out the rest."

"Check, sis."

Simultaneously, the two experts flicked their respective units on. While the three sisters scratched their heads in confusion, DeSoni and Khargana discussed last-minute technological details. They settled on an agreement that they would remain in contact at all times, though maintaining 'radio silence.'

The group double-checked everything and Khargana and the girls left. DeSoni sighed and relaxed into the Wocky Detective's comfortable work chair in front of the large communicator/locator screen. A keyboard lay in front of him for giving the machine its instructions. DeSoni lazily tapped a few keys and played around until a map of Neopia appeared on the large screen, with a small, magnified square around a remote area south of Neopia Central before the ocean. Four blinking dots were making rapid progress toward an area marked with an X.

That done, DeSoni leaned back and propped his rear paws up on the desk. He knew Khargana, and from what he could tell from the three girls, they could handle themselves. They wouldn't need his help.

It would be a long, boring day.

Fyora's crown! Scarcely three solar years ago and it would've been him rushing off into the unknown on some fantastic seat-of-his-pants adventure…

The door to the lab creaked open and DeSoni's earstalks flicked. "Kay?" he queried, getting his rear paws off the desk and slowly turning in the swivel chair. Their owner was supposed to be in Maraqua… The room was empty. He reached up and scratched the base of an earstalk nervously. Had Khar not closed the door all the way on her exit? He hadn't paid any attention. It could've been a breeze, or perhaps a slight aftershock from some minor earth shake or magical explosion…

He slowly turned back to facing the screen.

"It can't be…" said a soft voice behind him.

The tiny Yellow Aisha jumped and whipped around. Still nothing.

"Sonix? Here? I was looking for the owner," continued the voice.

Bad—very bad. Whoever it was knew his real name. DeSoni's eyes continued to scan the laboratory, a paw slowly heading for the reset button on the keyboard, but not yet daring to hit it and lose all the information he and Khargana had downloaded.

"Who are you? Where are you?" asked the Aisha. His eyes went over the laboratory/workshop again, looking for any shimmer or irregularity.

"It is you, Sonix! Long time, no see." A Robot Lupe suddenly winked into view.

DeSoni immediately punched the reset button and confirmed, trying to make the motion casual though it was undoubtedly rushed. The screen went black. He desperately hoped the somewhat dim henchman wouldn't realize what he'd just done.

Maxwell59's eyes switched from the Yellow Aisha to the screen and back. "What was that? What's going on, Sonix? What are you doing here, in a Neopian's Neohome?"

"I'm not who you think I am," said DeSoni carefully.

"Of course you are," chuckled the Robot Lupe. "You're Derek Sonix. Alien Aisha Military, departments Espionage and Scientific Research. Engineering specialist. We worked together for months, and you know it's impossible for a robot to forget a voice or a face. Now, what are you doing here?"

DeSoni was silent. Intelligent he certainly was, but witty he wasn't very. A plausible reason for being in a well-known detective's Neohome, especially with an owner in league with the Faerie Queen herself, completely eluded him.

Maxwell59 took the silence as suspicion. "Still wondering what I'm doing here, huh? Well, the pathetic detective that lives here—"

That comment struck a nerve the little Alien Aisha hadn't known he'd had. "She's not pathetic!" he blurted suddenly, standing up from the chair. He realized as he said it that there was no quick way to get out of this mess anyway. "And for your information, I live here!"

"Great cybernetic Meepit clones!" exclaimed the Robot Lupe in shock. Then his red eyes slanted as he analyzed the data. "You actually did it. I thought all that gossip about you wanting to desert the AAM was jealousy. Apparently not. You deserted the Alien Aishas to side with—with—," he gestured around the room, "with these losers!"

"Yes," said DeSoni tensely. "And I don't appreciate your choice of words. There is a world of difference between someone who does the right thing because it's right and a loser—technically a coward who is incapable of standing for what they believe in."

"And—the detective," said the robot slowly. His eyes suddenly darted to the large screen, then to DeSoni's paw still resting on the keyboard, then off to the metallic bowl still on a worktable. "You're _helping_ them?"

"Yes," said DeSoni, thinking quickly. Surely there was something in the room that could be a weapon. Khargana didn't have any ceiling sprinklers, which he could've used to short out the robot, or at least stun him. The sink, the only other source of water, was off on the far side of the lab. Any useful chemicals were carefully sealed and stored. Beakers and test tubes lined the desks, but even broken glass was no use against something not made of flesh and blood. Short out or stun… Stun…

"You realize I have to take you to see the Master."

"Of course," answered DeSoni, glancing to the side to examine the tools in his immediate reach. Keyboard, no. Welding torch, takes too long to heat up. Gas light, needs to be plugged in and turned on. And that stupid bowl. Nothing else! Only that stupid, stupid… metallic bowl. Which he just recently sent several hundred watts of electricity through. Which just might have some leftover static charge…

"I understand perfectly." He smiled, then whipped to the side, snatched the bowl, and hurled it straight at the robot.

Maxwell59 leaped to the side, but it clipped his shoulder. Sure enough, the leftover charge sent a jolt—just enough to immobilize him for a few seconds—straight through his circuits and he dropped.

DeSoni dashed for the staircase out of the workshop/laboratory, not hesitating or pausing for anything. Every millisecond counted… He reached the stairs and kept running, straight up them, not even glancing back at the robot.

He wasn't quite quick enough.

Just as he reached the top step, Maxwell59 raised his left forepaw and shot some sort of grappler claw at the tiny, yellow traitor. It caught him around his middle and started retracting. DeSoni struggled, trying to pry the claws off from around his waist, but the claw dragged him relentlessly backwards.

"No use," grunted the Robot Lupe, pushing himself upright and grinning as the tiny Aisha was pulled inch by inch towards him. "Your Wocky friend probably could've broken out of it—last night, anyway—but you?" He chuckled. "Not a chance. You're still the same weakling I remember from so many years back."

Suddenly his eyes glowed brighter. A delightful thought had just occurred to him, and laughed whole-heartedly at the idea of it. "Oh, Master's going to absolutely _love_ seeing you again!"


End file.
